



jX- 



80 
2 
»y 1 



SPEECH 









JOHN M. CLAYTON, OF DELAWARE, 



THE OREGON QUESTION, 



DELIVERED IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, 



Februahx 12, 1846. 



WASHINGTON : 
PRINTED BY GALES AND SEATON. 



1846. 



SPEECH. 



The joint resolution of the Committee on Foreign Relations, proposing 
to give notice to Great Britain of the intention of this Government to annul 
the treaty for the joint occupation of the Oregon territory, and the resolu- 
tions of Messrs. Hannegan, Calhoun, and Crittenden, having relation 
to the same subject, coming up as the special order — 

Mr. JOHN M. CLAYTON, of Delaware, rose to address the committee, 
but wished, before he proceeded, that the Secretary would read first the 
amendment moved by the gentleman from Ohio, (Mr. Allen,) and referred 
by the Senate to the Committee on Foreign Relations. 

It was read accordingly,. as follows : 

A joint resolution to annul and abrogate the convention of the sixth day of August, one thousand 
eight hundred and twenty-seven, between the United States of America and Great Britain, rela- 
tive to the country westward of the Stony or Rocky Mountains. 

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in 
Congress assembled, That, in virtue of the second article of the convention of the sixth of August, 
one thousand eight hundred and twenty-seven; between the United States of America and Great 
Britain, relative to the country westward of the Stony or Rocky Mountains,' the United States of 
America do now think fit to annul and abrogate that convention, and the said convention is hereby 
accordingly entirely annulled and abrogated : Provided, That this resolution shall take effect after 
the expiration of the term of twelve months from the day on which due notice shall have been 
given to Great Britain of the passage of this resolution. And the President of the United States 
is hereby authorized and required to give such notice, and also at the expiration of said convention 
to issue his proclamation setting forth that fact. 

Mr. C. then requested that the amendment reported from the Committee 
on Foreign Relations be next read. 
It was read accordingly, as follows : 

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United Slates of America in 
■Congress assembled, That the President of the United States be, and he is hereby, advised to give, 
forthwith, notice 'to the Government of Great Britain that the Government of the United States 
will, in virtue of the second article of the convention of the sixth of August, Anno Domini eigh- 
teen hundred and twenty-se«en, between the United States and Great Britain, relative to the Oregon 
territory, and after the expiration of twelve months from the day on which such notice shall have 
been received by the Government of Great Britain, annul and abrogate that convention.' 

Mr. Crittenden then rose and moved the resolutions heretofore sub- 
mitted by him, in the form of a substitute, or amendment to the amend- 
ment of the committee, and asked that they be read. 

They were read accordingly, as follows : 

Whereas, by the convention concluded on the 20th day of October, 1818, between the United 
States of America and the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, for the period 
■of ten years, and afterwards indefinitely extended and continued in force by another convention of 
the same parties, concluded the 6th day of August, 182T, it was agreed that any country that may 
be claimed by either party on the northwest coast of America, westward of the Stony or Rocky 
Mountains, now commonly called the Oregon territory, should, together with its harbors, bays, 
and creeks, and the navigation of all rivers within the same, be "free and open" to the vessels. 



citizens, and subjects, of the two Powers, but without prejudice to any claim which either of the 
parties might have to any part of said country ; and with this- further provision in the second article 
of the said convention of the 6th August, 1827, that either party might abrogate and annul said 
convention on giving due notice of twelve months to the other contracting party : 

And whereas it has now become desirable that the respective claims of the United States and 
Great Britain should be definitely settled, and that said territory may no longer than need be re- 
main subject to the evil consequences of the divided allegiance of its American and British popula- 
tion, and of the confusion and conflict of national jurisdictions, dangerous to the cherished peace 
and good understanding of the two countries: 

With a view, therefore, that steps be taken for the abrogation of the said convention of the 6th 
August, 1827, in the mode prescribed in its 2d article, and that the attention of the Governments 
of both countries may be the more earnestly and immediately directed to renewed efforts for the set- 
tlement of all their differences and disputes in respect to said territory : 

Be it resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America 
in Congress assembled, That the President of the United States be, and he is hereby, authorized, 
at his discretion, to give to the British Government the notice required by its said 2d article for the 
abrogation of the said convention of the 6th of August, 1827 : Provided, however, That in order 
to afford ampler time and opportunity for the amicable settlement and adjustment of all their differ- 
ences and disputes in respect to said territory, said notice ought not to be given till after the close of 
the present session of Congress. 

Mr. J. M. CLAYTON then addressed the Senate : 

Two distinct propositions (said he) have been submitted to the Senate, for 
giving notice to the Government of Great Britain that the convention provid- 
ing for the joint occupation of the territory of Oregon shall cease at the ter- 
mination of twelve months from the giving of such notice. There has also 
been offered — though it is not now regularly before the Senate, having been 
referred to the Committee, on Foreign Relations, who have it still before 
them — another proposition, which, on that account, is not now a proper sub- 
ject of discussion : it is the resolution adopted on the same subject by the 
House of Representatives. The two resolutions now before the Senate differ 
from each other in these respects. That reported from the Committee on For- 
eign Relations proposes to give the notice in question by authority of the 
Congress of the United States, without conferring on the President any dis- 
cretion in the matter; it takes the whole responsibility of the measure - r 
it proceeds on the assumption that Congress has the sole authority and con- 
sequent responsibility of giving this notice recommended by the Executive. 
The other proposition, now moved by my honorable friend from Kentucky,, 
in the form of an amendment to the amendment of the committee, proposes 
to throw the responsibility of this measure, which the President has recom- 
mended to Congress, on the President himself; it confers on him the 
authority to give this notice, after the present session of Congress, if he,, 
under all the circumstances, shall then see it most expedient. It does not, 
at the same time, deny his right to withhold the notice, if, from what may 
have occurred since the communication of his recommendation to Congress,, 
it shall appear to him most wise that such notice should not be given. 

The two propositions differ also in another and a very important respect. 
The latter holds out, if not expressly, at least by the clearest implication, 
that all negotiations between the United States and Great Britain ought 
not now to be held as finally closed, and amounts to a recommendation 
that the Executive shall continue the existing negotiations with a view to 
the peaceable adjustment of the conflicting claims of the two Governments. 
Between the two, I can have no hesitation in saying that I prefer that 
offered by the honorable Senator from Kentucky. The other proposes 
in effect that notice shall be given immediately, and leaves the Presi- 
dent no .discretion in the case. It assumes that Congress are so thoroughly 



5 * 

acquainted with the whole subject, and every thing that can by possibility 
have any bearing upon it, that; no matter what may have occurred al- 
ready, or what may or shall occur hereafter, the notice must be given. 
To this proposition I have insuperable objections ; I cannot consent 
to it. But it is due to myself that I should say that my opposition to it 
springs from no factious spirit ; I know no party feeling on great questions 
like this, which touch the foreign relations of my country. I never have 
entered as a party man on the consideration of questions which vitally 
affect those relations, nor have those who are in the habit of acting politi- 
cally with me here. Honorable Senators must well recollect the course 
we all took on the occasion of the settlement of our Northeastern boundary. 
Senators on neither side of this Chamber acted on that occasion as party 
men. The subject was not discussed as a party measure. On the contrary, 
after a prolonged discussion of its merits, we then came to a unanimous 
result, and presented to England an undivided front. 

The same thing happened on another occasion, when I enjoyed the honor 
of a seat upon this floor : when we were upon the eve of a war with France, 
because the French Government refused to pay us the twenty-five millions 
agreed to by her in Mr. Rives's treaty. There was no party division on 
that occasion. An .honorable Senator from Kentucky, now no longer a 
member of this body, but then chairman of the Committee on Foreign 
Relations, drew up and submitted to the Senate a report, at the close of 
which was a resolution which met the unanimous approbation of all the 
members of this body. At that time we resolved, one and all, to stand by 
our country, and to assert our own rights. 

I say therefore, again, that there has been no occasion on which I have 
known this Senate sink itself so low as to divide into mere parties and fac- 
tions on any great question involving the foreign relations of this country. 
I trust in God we shall witness no such division now. That we shall all 
perfectly agree respecting any proposition which may be submitted on this 
Oregon controversy, is not probable, perhaps scarcely possible. Each 
Senator, acting on his own independent personal conviction of duty, will 
press his own views of what ought to be the public policy. But, though 
we may not be able to find one common platform on which we all can 
stand, yet I do suppose there is not a Senator here who will cast his vote, 
either directly or indirectly, on a purely party ground. For my own part, 
I here declare, with the utmost frankness, that, whatever may be my opinion 
in regard to the negotiations of the Executive department on this question 
of Oregon, and of the manner in which those negotiations have been con- 
ducted — whatever may be my estimate of the policy of the President on 
this whole subject, yet, as a member of the United States Senate, and as a 
patriot, I mean to stand by him, so far as I can consistently with principle 
and honor. 

He has recommended to us to give to Great Britain this notice — and he 
makes that recommendation on his own responsibility : yet, at the same 
time., he gives us not the slightest intimation that he entertains the opinion 
that the notice will be productive of any thing like war, or that it will be 
followed by any measures of a hostile character on the part of England. 
He has not warned us by the slightest word that war will be likely to re- 
sult from this measure, or any other which he recommends to our adoption; 
and, if I can form any judgment from the actions of this Administration, 



there can be no war ; for the President, while he recommends this notice,, 
does not recommend that the annual appropriations shall be increased by 
a single dollar ; on the contrary, the annual estimates are to be reduced,, 
and have been. And, further, he recommends a reduction in the tariff of 
duties. There is' no proposal in his message for any thing like an increase 
of revenue by raising the duties on imports, or in any other mode. 

Again : what has been the conduct of those gentlemen associated with 
him in his counsels, whose appropriate and official duty it would be to re- 
commend the adoption of measures for the national defence ? The Secre- 
taries of War and of the Navy present no propositions having in view to 
prepare the nation for war. It is true that, after the resolution introduced 
by the Senator from Michigan (Mr. Cass) had been adopted by this body, 
the chairman of the Committee on Naval Affairs did report one measure 
which went to increase the navy by the addition of three frigates, five 
sloops of war, and one or two brigs and schooners ; yet, at the same time,, 
the report was accompanied by a letter from the Secretary of the Navy, 
declaring that this had not been recommended as a war measure at all, but 
merely as providing a necessary increase in our marine force, the better to 
protect the commerce of the country. The idea I got from his letter was,, 
that, in the judgment of the Secretary, the proposed increase of the navy 
was required, and ought to be made, supposing there would be no war. It 
was rendered necessary to extend an adequate protection to our increased 
and growing commerce. 

To what, other sources, then, ought we to look ? Who are they who we 
might naturally expect ought to excite the Legislature to make prepara- 
tions for war, if war were apprehended ? Wliose duty is it to give us the 
alarm ? From the President, from the Heads of Department, from the 
chairmen of standing committees, we have received no intimation of dan- 
ger, and the leading friends of the Administration on this floor give us here 
no more than the authorities have done. 

We are in the situation so justly described by the Senator from Michi- 
gan, (Mr. Cass.) We are totally unprotected, entirely open and uncovered 
in case of a hostile attack from without. Our fortifications are in a state 
of dilapidation ; or, if otherwise, we are without any in the very positions 
where they would be most needed should a war come upon us. The 
Senator from Florida (Mr. Westcott) and the Senator from Michigan 
(Mr. Cass) have described our situation in this respect most correctly. 
And I here render my thanks to the Senator from Florida especially for so 
fully and so truly; representing the undefended position of an important 
portion of my country. There is now no adequate protection for the city 
of Philadelphia, the second city, in population and wealth, in the Union. 
There is nothing in the shape of a fortification between Wilmington and 
the Capes of Delaware. There is in the Delaware bay what has been 
nominated a breakwater harbor, erected at vast expense by the Gov- 
ernment, for the protection of commerce, which harbor is entirely with- 
out defence. This harbor furnishes a safe haven for vessels taking 
refuge in it, and would furnish such a haven for any portion of the 
British navy that might enter that bay incase of war. It would be to 
them a most valuable acquisition ; for, from that point, they could strike 
New York, and all the most important cities on our coast, as well as 
utterly lay waste and demolish the towns on the banks of the Delaware 



itself. Such is our present -condition in reference to defence. Yet, under 
this state of circumstances, and with the fact before their eyes that we pos- 
sess a commercial marine almost if not quite equal to the commercial 
marine of England herself, which is now exposed defenceless to the depre- 
dations of any enemy by sea, not. one member' of the Administration has 
apprized us that there exists the slightest danger of a war. 

I look to these things as much more significant of what is to happen 
than any thing I find in the published correspondence between our Secre- 
tary and the British Envoy. Were I, indeed, to judge from the tenor of 
that correspondence, so far as it has been communicated to us" by the Ex- 
ecutive, I should say that there did exist very imminent danger of war ; 
because I Confess that I do not perceive on what ground, as there stated; 
the existing controversy will be peaceably settled; We have refused 
utterly all arbitration^ either as to boundary or title. We have refused 
a reference of the question in dispute, not merely to crowned heads, but to 
a mixed commission, or a board composed of private citizens. ' Nearly 
every proposition that looks toward a peaceful settlement of the dispute 
. has proceeded from England ; and, though I have heard it asserted that 
the tone of the British press before the departure of the. last steamer was 
pacific, yet .it can hardly have escaped the notice of any one, that the reason 
given for this was the hope, and perhaps the belief in the minds of many, 
that this Government would be willing to sacrifice our own tariff and the 
protection of our own manufacturing industry, and- that we should - enter 
into a commercial treaty of some sort with England with reference to that 
subject. I will here take occasion to say that, if any man puts his hope of 
peace on such a foundation as that, he will find himself mistaken. ■ 

I-say that, if I looked only at the diplomatic correspondence between the 
official functionaries '.of the' two Governments, Ishould certainly conclude 
that there was imminent danger of war ;. but -looking, as I do, at the con- 
duct of the Administration and. its friends, I am bound to say, as I do now 
say, here in my place, that I cannot apprehend there will'be any war. Can 
any man suppose that the President of the United States would bring this 
nation to the very verge of war with one of the most powerful nations of 
the world, without, giving, to Congress the least intimation that we we're in 
imminent danger of such an issue ? To suppose such a thing is impossible. 
I differ on many important points from the present Administration, of. this 
Government, and I did not contribute my aid to put the existing Chief Ma- 
gistrate into power ; but I do not so far distrust the President's patriotism 
and integrity as to suppose that he would harbor the idea of putting the 
country into the very attitude of. war, while refusing to the Legislature the 
slightest intimation of its approach, and while deliberately withholding 
from the co-ordinate branches of the Government all propositions or sug- 
gestions for the national defence. 

I do not hold that the giving of the notice recommended will tend, to 
war. The President, under all the circumstances of the case, asks from 
us the power to give such notice. He stands in an official position where 
he has the fullest opportunity to know all the benefits, as well as all the 
probable evils, likely to flow from such a measure. He has all the nego-, 
tiation under his eye, and has a knowledge of facts which I have riot. He 
is, or may he, in daily communication with the British Minister.' I am not. 
The people have given these great responsibilities to him, and I am not the 



8 

man to take them from him. He asks power to give this notice, and I, for 
one, am willing to intrust him with that power. I would say to the Pres- 
ident, " You have the means of knowing all the bearings and probable 
consequences of the measure you recommend ; you have the power in 
your hands, and at your peril exercise that power, under the responsibilities 
you bear." I would say this to the President, but I would pass no reso- 
lution compelling him to give the notice. I will vote for a resolution giv- 
ing him the discretion to give it, or not to give it, as he thinks best, but I 
will go no further. 

I hold that the President of the United States has it in his power, (I do not 
say he has the right,) if to him it seems best, to bring on a war with Eng- 
land ; for, though the Constitution has reserved to Congress alone the power 
officially to declare war, yet, if the President does so control our diplomatic 
correspondence with Great Britain as to bring on a war, it does not de- 
pend upon any action of ours to say that war shall not come. Congress, 
certainly, has done nothing to bring on that event; if there is any danger 
of it, it has not been incurred from the action of Congress. The whole 
action, thus far, has been confined to the Executive : but he may go stili 
further. He may, (as others before him in like circumstances have done.) 
without consulting Congress, permit actual hostilities to take place. ' We 
cannot shut our eyes to the fact, that it is in the power of the President to 
provoke a war, if he is so disposed. If he does, I shall deeply deplore it; 
but the fault will not rest on my head, or on the heads of those who act 
politically with me. The majority of this nation have intrusted him with 
power, and they are responsible. 

My own course on this floor, on this question, shall be to lead our coun- 
cils, so far as is in my power, to whatever will contribute to an honorable 
peace between the two nations. I avow myself a friend to peace — to an 
honorable peace. I trust and hope — nay, I believe— that the President of 
the United States intends there shall be no war, but desires an honorable 
peace. I will not so far reflect upon him as to suppose he desires a war 
with Great Britain. 

I shall not at this time go into any discussion of our title to the territory 
of Oregon. I shall withhold that for another place. If it shall please the 
Senate to go into Executive session, I shall be free to declare my sentiments 
there ; but I hold it highly improper to carry on such a discussion here, and 
consider it as going to prejudge the action of the Senate, when a treaty shall 
come before us, provided the President shall negotiate one. I will not now 
say that our boundary ought to be the parallel of 49°, or the parallel of 
54° 40', or any other parallel. Let him decide that point, and make his 
treaty in such a manner as shall best please himself and his associates in 
power, and then I will deliver my sentiments upon such treaty when it 
shall be presented. On a delicate subject of this character I do not hold it 
to be my duty at present to speak. I trust that whatever discussion may 
take place here on the general subject, Senators, knowing the possibility, 
and even the probability, that a treaty in some shape may come before 
them, will forbear to express any definite opinion as to our title to any part 
or the whole of Oregon. 

But the honorable gentleman from Ohio over the way (Mr. Allen) told 
the Senate that he considered us as standing committed for the " whole of 
Oregon." How so ? By a certain resolution passed at the Baltimore Con- 



vention. Now, I would like to know how the Senator or any body else 
stands committed by a certain resolution made at the time when a Con- 
vention bad been called for the purpose of nominating a candidate for the 
place - of Chief Magistrate 'of the United States? The resolution referred 
to had for its object the enlistment of partisans in behalf of the party which 
offered it. There was no discussion in that body as to the ground or evi- 
dences of title. The resolution was passed in high party times, and with- 
out a moment's reflection ; it committed me to nothing; and, as I think, 
committed nobody else. Those who choose to consider themselves as com- 
mitted by such a resolution, and thereby precluded from any discussion in 
this Chamber of the question of title, must act on their own responsibility. 
I hold that there is greater danger of involving the country in war by 
withholding the notice than by giving it in the form I advocate, and which 
has been proposed by my honorable friend from Kentucky. The measure, 
as it stands, in that form, is pacific; and if the notice shall be so given, it can 
present no just cause of offence to England. Many of the leading presses 
in England have so declared. A British paper I now hold in my hand, 
entitled the Manchester Guardian, advances the doctrine that a notice to 
terminate the convention of joint occupancy will be the very best means 
of preserving peace. I will venture to read to the Senate an extract from 
that paper, because it contains sentiments in which I fully concur. The 
editor says : 

"With respect to the notice for terminating the joint occupation of Oregon, we are not sure 
that President Polk may not receive it from the English Government before he can possibly be 
in a condition to give it himself But, whether given by the one side or the other, 'we do not 
conceive that it will add materially, if at all, to the chance of a hostile collision. It has been ob- 
vious enough for some time past, that, unless the question can be amicably settled in a very short 
period, say in twelve months at the latest, hardly any thing can prevent war ; and therefore, a 
decisive step, like that of giving notice for putting an end to the subsisting agreement, is rather 
favorable than otherwise. When both Governments know that the alternative is an arrangement 
in a year or war, they will see that there is no time to be lost in useless discussions, and will 
probably hit upon some compromise to which both can accede. We are aware that this opinion 
is rather at variance with the views of a large portion of the press, both in England and the United 
States, by whom the proposal to give notice to terminate the joint occupation is regarded as decid- 
edly unfavorable to the preservation of peace ; but we see nothing in their arguments to change 
our own opinions on the subject." 

As I observed, that is my opinion. I hold that we shall incur much 
greater danger of war by continuing the joint occupation of Oregon, with- 
out giving this notice, than can possibly arise from giving the notice. 

I presume I may consider it as the settled determination of Congress to 
pass some bill for the occupation of Oregon; I do not mean its exclusive 
occupation, for I have no idea that Congress intends any such thing as 
that. Should we undertake to shut out England at once from all parts of 
the territory, it would be equivalent practically to a'declaration of war 
against her, and I therefore trust and confidently hope that no such step 
will be taken. But I presume that some bill will be introduced, similar 
to the law which has been enacted by Parliament, extending the judicial 
jurisdiction of Iowa over, our citizens in Oregon, as Great Britain has ex- 
tended that of Canada over her subjects in that territory; so that our citi- 
zens shall be as fully protected by American tribunals and American 
officers as the subjects of Great Britain are by her officers and her courts. 
It seems to me that the honor of our country, as well as the safety of such 
of our citizens as have gone and are going to Oregon, demands thus much 
at our hands. 



10 

Looking at things as they will probably be at the end of the present 
session of Congress, I ask, which of the two courses is most likely to result 
in war — the giving of this notice as it has been modified by the honorable 
Senator from Kentucky, or the refusal of the notice in any shape ? I take 
it for granted we are to establish our courts in Oregon as England has es- 
tablished hers. Her sheriffs, her marshals, her constables, enforce the jus- 
tice administered by her courts. We have the same right to employ our 
sheriffs, our marshals, and our constables, to enforce the decisions of our 
own courts; and how can it escape any thinking and intelligent mind, that 
in such a state of things the danger of mutual collisions must increase every 
day ? I do not, indeed, say that collision will be unavoidable; but I feel 
very confident, knowing as I do the character of those who will go into 
that territory, and have gone there, the conflicting views entertained by 
them and the British subjects in Oregon on almost all questions, especially 
those respecting civil liberty and the advantages of republican government^ 
that the danger of collision between them will be imminent, and must be 
daily increasing. There will be in Oregon, as was well stated by the 
honorable Senator from Michigan, (Mr. Cass,) a double-headed Govern- 
ment ; and there' will be greater danger to the people of both nations there 
in such a state of things than if there was no Government at all, and a state 
of entire anarchy prevailed, Judge Lynch being the sole arbiter of all 
differences. We can all readily understand this. Suppose an American 
citizen is sued for debt, or prosecuted for assault and battery, for homi- 
cide, or any other crime; do you suppose he will submit himself to the 
jurisdiction and the sentence of a British judge? — that he will not appeal 
to his own countrymen to rescue him from the hands of an English consta- 
ble ? Reverse the case : Suppose the American to be the party prosecut- 
ing, and the culprit to be an Englishman — -think you he will not refuse the 
authority of an American judge, and appeal to- his fellow-subjects to deliver 
him from the grasp of a Yankee constable ? If this- joint occupation con- 
tinues, there will soon happen collisions and encounters between armed 
posses of Englishmen and Americans ; blood willbe shed; and what will 
happen then ? Our people will come to us with their story, and the Eng- 
lish subjects will go to their Government with theirs, and neither represent- 
ation will probably lose any thing by distance. We shall doubtless hear of 
much that the Englishman never was guilty of, and the English Government 
will hear 'as unjust charges against our people. These representations will 
inflame the passions of men. Certain individuals in this country, who 
seek to fan those passions to a blaze, will avail themselves of so favorable 
an opportunity. The appetite for war, always so easily excited, will in- 
crease on both sides, until at last, contrary to the wishes and efforts of the 
best and wisest men of both countries, we shall be precipitated into a war. 

There is one great evil in this matter well worthy of the consideration 
of the Senate. Already the apprehension of such a struggle has paralyzed 
commerce, and capital is fast retreating into chests, and drawers, and old 
stockings. The business community are every where alarmed; and every 
moment of the day that alarm increases, and commerce is more and more 
affected. The foreign commerce of the United States at this day consists of 
2,417,000 tons, while the foreign commerce of England is 2,420,759 tons; 
so that we are nearly. equal to her; and I doubt, upon the whole, whether 
England has greater commercial interests to protect than ourselves. We 



11 

have seven hundred whale ships, a great India commerce, and a large and 
growing trade with China ; but do you suppose that any merchant, in the 
present disturbed state of our foreign relations, with this dispute unsettled, 
will send out his whale ships again after they have got safely into port ? 
Will our Indiamen be despatched again to the opposite hemisphere on 
voyages which must detain them for many months in distant seas ? Far 
from it. The rate of insurance now is almost equal to a war premium: 
and the longer this controversy remains open, the more will our commerce 
be -crippled. My wish therefore is, that it should be brought to a speedy 
and an honorable settlement. If we give the notice now proposed, we 
shall present the question to Great Britain in such a view as will, I believe 
and hope, induce her to come to a settlement, and that speedily. 

But if this resolution of notice shall fail, the President, (1 will not say 
feeling mortification, but) feeling that his proposed measures have not 
been accepted, and that, on the contrary, his policy has been slighted -and 
overlooked, may perhaps resolve, for reasons best known to himself, to 
throw the whole responsibility on Congress, and suffer things to remain 
as they are until another Congress shall be elected, which will give the 
notice that we refuse. 

I am not, as you well know, in the secrets of the President ; I speak 
nothing ex cathedra ; I reason only from facts before me; and I fear that 
the effect of our refusal may be to induce the President to stop all negotia- 
tions, and make his appeal directly to the country on this question of giving 
notice. That appeal will practically be directed to that most dangerous of 
all social elements — party feeling. Every latent prejudice against England 
will then be excited and roused to its utmost pitch; and while the commerce 
of the country is paralyzed, and men are exasperated by the destruction 
of their business, I fear that, in the end, representatives will be sent here who 
will go still further than I am disposed to go. It is due, however, to 
myself to say, in reply to the gentleman from Ohio, (Mr. Allen,) that I 
have not the remotest idea that, under any circumstances, men will ever 
be sent to this Chamber who will be ready to go beyond 54° 40' ! ! I 
earnestly hope that no men may be sent here, who will be in favor of 
measures that tend to a war with Great Britain, much less with Russia. 

I have said thus much with a view to explain some of the reasons which 
will induce me to vote in favor of the amendment proposed by my friend 
from Kentucky, (Mr. Crittenden,) and against that reported to the Senate 
by the Committee on Foreign Relations. I should not have troubled the 
Senate at this time at all, but for the extraordinary course of remark which 
has been indulged in by the Senator from Ohio, (Mr.. Allen.) He is the 
chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations in this body. He is the 
leading man in the first committee of the first deliberative assembly in the 
world. As such, whatever falls from him will go from one extremity of 
this land to the other, and will every where be listened to with profound 
interest. But it will not stop there; by the first steamer which leaves our 
shores for England, the remarks of the gentleman, as given through the 
reporters to the world, will be read with the deepest attention, and will 
excite general alarm. By every man it will be presumed, from the gen- 
tleman's official position, that, in the remarks they read, he speaks the sen- 
timents of this Senate, or, at least, of a great portion of its members. He 
has made in this Chamber a speech, the delivery of which occupied two- 



12 

days, and the great body of which consisted of the most violent denuncia- 
tions of England, accompanied by a declaration that she dared not go to 
war; that she had become so weak and imbecile that she dare not vindi- 
cate her own rights. He has told us that the British Government will 
tumble to pieces if she shall dare to make war with this country. The gen- 
tleman at the same time has extolled in the highest terms the bravery of his 
own countrymen, and spoken proudly of their military prowess. In this 
sentiment I agree with him, and have nothing to object against the assertion 
of it. But that an honorable Senator, holding so distinguished a position, 
should rise before this body, and elaborately endeavor, by his utmost power, 
to excite the feelings of his own cguntry against England, and, worse than 
that, to excite the feelings of every Englishman against this country, is, in 
my judgment, deeply to be regretted. It seems to have been the favorite 
object of that honorable Senator to seize every opportunity of discussing 
this subject with the avowed purpose of preparing the hearts of the people 
for war. He has openly acknowledged this. Now, had he confined his 
efforts even to preparing the hearts of his own countrymen for a war with 
England, it would not have been so bad by half as to prepare the hearts 
of the English people for a war against us. The gentleman has resorted 
to every consideration he could enforce, seemingly with the express design 
of exciting and rousing the pride of every English heart against us. There 
is no Englishman who shall read that speech who will not feel indignant to 
find that in the Chamber of the American Senate his nation has been openly 
denounced, and that it has been declared on this floor that she dare not go to 
war. Sir, what would be the feeling of every American bosom on reading a 
speech like that reported in the British papers, as delivered by a leading 
member on the floor of Parliament ? From his position at the head of the 
Committee on Foreign Relations, that gentleman may very naturally be sup- 
posed to be the connecting link between the President and the Senate, and 
therefore presumed to speak the sentiments and feelings of the President 
himself. We may judge what will be the feeling of Englishmen on read- 
ing his language from what we should experience within ourselves in the 
like case. Should we not rise with great indignation from reading a speech 
in which every topic of reproach and contempt was dwelt upon, and applied 
to this country and its Government, and in which it was openly asserted 
that we dare not go to war with England? 

In reply to such language, I will say (and I hope that these poor re- 
marks of mine may accompany his to England and elsewhere) that I do 
not believe that this Senat-e, or any considerable portion of it, approve sen- 
timents like those he uttered in its presence. I do not believe that, if that 
speech was approved by any gentlemen in this Senate, they constitute, at 
the utmost, a third part of our number. I cannot suppose that any one 
who heard the gentleman approved of such an attempt to rouse the feel- 
ings of England against this country, or provoke her to a war. Nor do I 
believe the Senator spoke the sentiments of the President of the United 
States, or of either branch of Congress, or of any considerable portion of 
the members of either, nor those of the American people. No, sir; that is 
not the feeling and these are not. the sentiments of the American people. 
They respect the English as a great and a brave nation. True, they never 
will submit to be trampled on, and they will fight sooner than submit to 
dishonor. We have told England so a thousand times. But they have 



13 

no desire, by insult and abuse, to inflame England into a war. Had they 
an opportunity of expressing to that gentleman their real sentiments, I am 
well assured that nine-tenths of their number would tell him they utterly 
disown and disapprove of all such attempts to excite the two nations to war. 
The Senator tells us, and tells England, that she dare not go to war with us. 
Well, sir; and the moment it shall be believed in England that that is the 
sentiment of the American Congress, what will be .the result ? Every 
British heart will throb with one united feeling. Every Englishman, 
every Irishman, every Scotchman, will rally to the assistance of his Gov- 
ernment. Only induce them to believe that we think that of them, and war 
will be inevitable. 

I do not belong to that class of men whom the Senator has described as 
seeking to depreciate their own country, and to exalt the character and 
strength of England, or of any other foreign Power ; but I hold it to be 
my duty, as a sentinel placed on this post, to tell this Senate and this 
nation that we are not in a condition, either in a military or a naval 
point of view, to meet the danger of a war if it should come. If we were 
in danger of a war with France, I should hold it equally my duty to de- 
clare what the real posture of the country actually was. This is not 
depreciating the power of my country; it is but warning my country of 
what her duty is. Was it a very friendly part in the Senator from Ohio 
to condemn the whole speech of the Senator from Michigan, (Mr. Cass?) 
That honorable Senator thought that it belonged to him as his public duty 
to inform the Senate and the country, that we are in danger of war, and 
ought to arm the nation to meet it; that, in the present condition of our 
army and navy, they were an insufficient defence for the protection of our 
national interests; and that duty he discharged with all his energy. We 
unanimously voted that the appropriate committees should inquire into 
the facts. No wise nation will go into a contest either overrating its own 
strength or underrating the strength of its enemy. More battles have 
been lost and more wars have proved disastrous from this cause than 
from almost any other. 

I entirely concur with the views which the Senators from Michigan 
and Florida have expressed on this subject. They are not to be de- 
nounced as alarmists for honestly describing our defenceless condition. 
From the high places they occupy, they have exposed the naked and un- 
guarded condition of their country, and, so doing, they were strictly in the 
path of their duty, and are entitled to its thanks. 

The honorable Senator from Ohio tells us that England darefnot go to war 
with us, because she is exceedingly weak — so weak that she cannot defend 
herself; and this because her navy has lately lost that supremacy which 
he admits that it formerly enjoyed. He says it is not now as powerful as 
it was in 1S02 and 1S03. In this sentiment I entirely differ from the Sen- 
ator, and I will make an effort to show that he is mistaken. So far from 
thinking that the naval power of Great Britain is less now than it was in 
3802, I think, on the contrary, that at this hour it is greater than it ever 
was before. 

[Mr. Allen here rose to explain. What he had said was, that the naval 
power of Great Britain was less, relatively to the naval power of the world, 
now than in 1802 — that it bore then, a greater proportion to the united 
naval power of all other nations than it did now.] 



14 



Mr. Clayton resumed. This position is still more objectionable than 
the other, as I shall endeavor to show. 

I have in my hand some statistics, which have been carefully collected 
from the best authorities. Here Mr. C. entered into the details of the 
following statement : 





Commercial 


Vessels of 


Number 


Number 




Countries. 


tonnage. 


war of all 
classes. 


of guns. 
16,242 


of men. 


Remarks. 


England - 


2,420,759 


671* 


40,000 


98 steamers. 


France - • - 


625,769 


348 


8,816 


29,095 


61 steamers. 


United States - 


2,417,002 


• 76 


2,352 


8,724 


5 steamers. 


Russia ■ - , - 


239,000 


226 


10,394 


25,000 


8 steamers, many contracted for. 


Denmark 


95,375 


?3 


754 


at least.- 


67 gunboats. 


Sweden - 


118,125 


397 


1,407 


at least. 


2 steamers and 377 gunboats. 


Holland - 


214,284 


132 


1,544 


- 


132 gunboats. 


Turkey - 


- 


31 


1,902 


- 


3 steamers. 


Egypt - 


— 


20 


1,460. 







England has 640 guns 


to each 100,000 tons of 


comr 


France 1,030 do 


do 100,000 


do. 


United States 100 do 


do 100,000 


do. 


Russia 3,467 do 


do 100,000 


do. 


Denmark 877 do 


do 100,000 . 


do. 


Sweden 703 do 


do 10.0,000 


do. 


Holland 777 do 


do 100,000 


do. 



Having accompanied the items of the above table with appropriate re- 
marks in explanation, Mr. C. proceeded to say: 

And now what are the results collected from these authentic materials ? 
I wish the Senate and the country to be.' well acquainted' with them, in 
order that that country may understand the true state of things ; that 
it may be aware of its own weakness, and thus be induced to awake 
to" its duty of self-defence. For the protection of every hundred thou- 
sand tons of our commercial wealth we have 100 guns ; but England has 
640; France has 1,030; Russia has 3,4fi7; Denmark has 877; Sweden 
703, and Holland 777. In other words,- England has seven times as many 
guns as we to defend the same amount of commerce; France has ten. times 
as many; Russia has thirty-five times as many; Denmark eight times, 
Sweden seven times, and Holland eight times as many. England has, we 
thus see, mounted nearly as many guns for her defence as all the rest of 
the civilized world, ourselves included ; and she is about seven times as 
well protected in this respect as we are. Indeed, it would seem that every 
other civilized nation yields her own great interests not less than seven 
times as much protection as we give to ours. France, for example, has but 
about one-fourth of our commerce, while we have about one-fourth of her 
navy. Our commercial marine, compared with that of Russia, is as ten to 
one, while her naval power, compared with ours, is about as five to one. 

If the Senator is desirous of ascertaining the comparative strength of 
England, as compared with that of the rest of the world, he has here the 
means of doing it. He will find, on that examination, that England is 
guarded at every point; that her military marine is greater at this time 



15 

than it ever was before since she has been a nation. If we could choose for 
ourselves a period the most favorable for attacking her With a prospect of 
success, this would be the very worst for us we could select. 

And now let it not be supposed that I seek to depreciate our own. 
strength, or to exaggerate hers. I have not taken the largest statements 
I have seen of. the force of Great Britain, but adopted those which were 
the most reliable. I hold, in the language of Hemmings, that 

"To broach a war, and not to be assur'd 
Of certain means to make a fair defence, 
Howe'er the cause be right, may justly seem 
A wilful madness." 

If we have a clearand indisputable right to the whole' territory of Oregon, 
we ought to select for its assertion and maintenance a period when we are 
ready to maintain it.. Without further expressing any opinion on the ques- 
tion whether we are ready now, I leave every Senator to decide it in his 
own bosom, for himself. 

The people of the United States have not manifested any want of confi- 
dence in the Executive; they have not formed themselves into parties on 
this question; the difference among them, so far as any difference exists, 
arises from an honest difference of opinion as to the foreign relations of the 
country. I believe that my countrymen are as ready to go to war for the 
defence of their just rights as any people on the face of the earth. All that 
the Senator from Ohio said, and all that he can say in regard to their 
bravery, or their ability to protect themselves, I heartily concur with. I 
do not underrate their prowess in battle — far, very far, from it. But I be- 
lieve. that if they could all be gathered together in one mass in front of the 
President's mansion, knowing that he has the power to decide the question 
whether we shall have war or peace, they would address him in some such 
language as was used by the conqueror of Agincourt, when he called his 
council round him, and asked them to give him their honest, sincere opinion 
as to his right to go to war witji France. On that solemn occasion he is 
.represented by the greatest of -our dramatic poets as saying to them : 

" God forbid, • 

That you should fashion, wrest, or bow your reading, 
Or. nicely charge your understanding soul. 
With opening titles miscreate, whose right 
Suits not in native colors with the truth; 
For God doth .know how many, how in health, 
Shall drop their blood in approbation 
'Of what your wisdom shall incite us to: 
Therefore take heed how you impawn our persons, 
How you awake the sleeping sword of war; 
We charge you in the name of God, take heed /" 

Sir, while I admit, nay, insist, that my countrymen are as brave as 
any people on earth, and as prompt to vindicate their rights; and while I 
well know that, if you convince them that their title to Oregon is clear and 
indisputable, they will be as ready and as able to maintain it as any nation 
in the world can be, I would charge this Senate also, should they be called 
upon to decide upon the question of war or peace, in the name of God to 
take heed! 

If we are to have a war with England, an empire more powerful than 
ever was Rome in her palmiest days, let us have a just cause: then we 
shall all strike together, and I have no doubts or fears as to the issue. But 



16 

first let the people, first let us ourselves, be convinced that we are in the 
right. Do not let us go to battle in a bad cause ; in one that is righteous I 
know that we can fight as well as any people that ever lived. 

If this matter must come to a war, the responsibility will rest on the head 
of the President of the United States and his Cabinet; and it will be, as has 
truly been observed, such a war as the world never yet saw. It will be 
" the carnival of death, the vintage ol the grave." It will be a war be- 
tween men who profess to be Christians ; with a people allied to ourselves 
in feeling more than all the nations of. the world ; a people far advanced 
before all mankind in intelligence and the arts and improvements of civil- 
ized life; a nation which approximates more than any other to our own 
principles of free government; a people who "know their rights, and, 
knowing, dare maintain them ;" a people skilful in war, brave to a proverb, 
and amply supplied with all the means and sinews of war. 

If we go to war with this people about our title to all Oregon, at this 
time, the "responsibility will not rest on me. Not on me — not on me or 
mine, oh God ! let any portion of the guilt or the sin of such a war ever 
be found ! * „_„;. 

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



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